The present invention relates generally to hinge assemblies for hinged or pivotally interconnected members, and more particularly to such hinge assemblies especially adapted for pivotally interconnecting a vehicle accessory door with a vehicle accessory housing structure or other portion of the interior of a vehicle. Such vehicle accessory doors include vanity doors, storage compartment doors or other accessory covers. Hinge assemblies according to the present invention can also be employed for various non-vehicular uses, as will be readily appreciated by one skilled in the art from the following discussion.
The typical vehicle includes a wide variety of hinged or pivotally mounted vehicle accessories or accessory covers in the interior, luggage storage areas, engine compartment, or other areas. In the past, however, many hinge assemblies for such vehicular applications, as well as those for various non-vehicular applications, either have not been sufficiently durable or have been relatively expensive to produce and install. Furthermore, many of such prior hinge assemblies have been found to be inordinately bulky, unsightly, or ill-fitting, all of which detract from the user's perception of quality with regard to the vehicle or other device in which such hinge assemblies are included.
In addition to the above disadvantages, many prior hinge assemblies have not provided the user with relatively rotated or pivoted positions in which the hinged members can be held and maintained especially after extended use and wear of the hinge components. One example of the prior art wherein such a feature has been provided, however, is an over-center, spring-and-lever arrangement, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,491,899; 4,227,242; and 4,000,404. Another example is an arrangement having a coil spring with its opposite ends interconnected with opposite hinged members in order to bias the two hinge members toward one another in a mutual sliding arrangement. This hinge arrangement does not have a pivot pin or other member pivotally interconnecting the hinged members and thus the spring functions both as a resilient biasing member for resiliently biasing the hinged members toward one another and as a "fastener" for securing the hinged members together. These arrangements have been found to have various disadvantages in terms of durability, performance, complexity, or expense of manufacture. The need has therefore arisen for a hinge assembly of the type described herein, which is simple and inexpensive to produce, assemble and install, that is highly durable, and that is capable of maintaining the hinged member in one or more relative rotational or pivotal orientations, such as in open and closed positions, for example.
According to the present invention, a spring-loaded hinge assembly is provided for interconnecting first and second relatively rotatable members in a hinged relationship with respect to one another. Such a hinge assembly includes a pivot pin or other pivot means for pivotally interconnecting the first and second members for relative rotational movement about a generally longitudinally-extending axis and a cam protruding in a generally lateral direction from one of the first or second members for rotational relative movement therewith. A spring or other resilient biasing means on the other of the first or second members is slidably engaged and resiliently deflected by the cam in order to exert a resilient biasing force on the cam in a generally lateral direction generally toward the longitudinal axis, thus tending to bias the hinged members generally in opposite directions away from one another. Preferably, the resilient biasing means includes a leaf spring secured to one of the first or second members, with the leaf spring being laterally and resiliently deflected by the cam on the other member during at least a portion of the rotational movement of the member.
Preferably, the above-mentioned cam has at least one dwell portion thereon for engaging the leaf spring or other resilient biasing means at a corresponding predetermined, relative rotational orientation of the first and second members with respect to one another. In such an arrangement, the resilient biasing means tends to resiliently and releasably maintain the first and second members in the predetermined relative rotational orientation when engaged by the dwell portion of the cam.
In still another preferred hinge arrangement according to the present invention, the cam can have at least a pair of the dwell portions thereon, with a laterally-enlarged lobe portion disposed between the dwell portions. In this arrangement, the dwell portions engage the resilient biasing means at a corresponding pair of predetermined relative rotational orientations of the first and second members, such as in preselected open and closed orientations for example, in order to resiliently and releasably maintain the first and second members in each of the predetermined orientations. Preferably the resilient biasing means is resiliently and laterally deflected by the cam to a greater extent when engaged by the laterally-enlarged lobe portion of the cam than when engaged by either of the dwell portions of the cam, and the laterally-enlarged lobe portion of the cam has a rounded configuration. This preferred arrangement causes the resilient biasing means to tend to forcibly urge or "self-propel" the first and second members into one of the predetermined relative rotational orientations when the resilient biasing means is engaged by the rounded and laterally-enlarged lobe portion of the cam.
In specific applications of the hinge assembly described above, the cam can be disposed on an accessory door for rotational movement therewith relative to an accessory housing structure. In such an arrangement, the leaf spring or other resilient biasing means is disposed on the housing structure for engagement with the cam on the door, as explained above. Alternately, the cam can be disposed on the housing structure, and the leaf spring or other resilient biasing means can be disposed on the accessory door for rotational movement therewith relative to the housing structure. In any of the embodiments discussed above, a first movable member is hinged or pivotally interconnected with a fixed or movable second member and is preferably resiliently urged and substantially self-propelled into one of the above-mentioned predetermined rotational orientations relative to the second member whenever the hinged components are moved to relative rotational orientations in close proximity with one of the predetermined relative rotational orientations at which the cam dwell portion or portions engage the leaf spring or other resilient biasing means.
Additional objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.